Re: Sending items abroad.
 

I'm still receiving the odd small eBay item (e.g. Bluetooth modules) direct from China as quickly as ever.

Re: Sending items abroad.
 

A set of PCBs sent to New Zealand four weeks ago still haven't been delivered.
Neither has a set to Canada sent late last year, which I gave up on and sent a replacement which did arrive.

Re: Sending items abroad.
 

I do wonder if some post was/is sent using space in the hold of passenger planes, which are obviously not running much or at all in some places.

I've not have anything that hasn't arrived yet, the longest wait was a small part sent by economy mail from Australia, taking about six weeks.

Also just received a HP counter bought from Spain a month ago, the seller had lots of problems getting it collected due to local restrictions, it only took a week to deliver once the carrier finally collected it.

David

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

It's reassuring to hear that apart from smallish delays forum members are still getting parts/parcels. Unfortunately the parcel I sent wasn't tracked, I couldn't afford the extra £7, same with the parcel I sent today; I'm on a tight budget the "extra's" like signed for etc for International parcels often add at least a tenner.

One thing I have noticed is that on UK bog standard 2nd class parcels there is no longer a number that can be used to track parcels. There used to be a long # preceded by letters which if entered into the RM's "track and trace" found your parcel, even though tracking wasn't asked and paid for, this is no longer the case. However they still enter the postcode and there's a reference # of sorts.

I agree finding any info with RM is frustrating, RM's customer service is dire. i asked the lady who served me about my parcel today, she basically said it could take months for the parcel to arrive, if it doesn't turn up, I'm screwed. International shipping aside, if you send a parcel in the UK by courier, tracking is standard - not an option there are numerous collection options and pricing is roughly comparable for medium parcels.

"I do wonder if some post was/is sent using space in the hold of passenger planes" Pretty sure that is the case.

Andy.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

Being at Osterley Park today below the Heathrow flight path there are certainly fewer planes but there did seem to be plenty - probably around a third of the usual number. How many of those were carrying post I don't know of course. Not bought or sent anything abroad but QST from the USA seems to arrive just as punctually as normal.

Dave

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I ordered a small package from china, according to the tracking information it took only a few days to reach the UK, but has been stuck at the "UK distribution center" for over a month.

Two packages from different eastern European ebay sellers arrived safely but took over a month, rather than the usual 10 days.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

Hmm, its nicely hidden!

- Click "Complaints & Claims"
- Click "I'd like to make a complaint"
- Click the "Still need help - Click here to get in touch" Link at the bottom

That finally opens up a "Call Us" and "E-mail us" options. What a blinkin palaver!

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I didn't click through that path because I wanted to make neither a complaint nor a claim, I just wanted to know why it was that I couldn't post an air mail letter to the USA or Canada at my local post office.

As I said, burying those options like that is typical of a company using a website to defend itself from being contacted by customers while still ostensibly seeming to be contactable

If they really wanted customers to be able to find the contact email / telephone numbers they would be at the head of the main landing page and at the top of every other web page on the site as well.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

Australia Post is the same, much digging to find telephone numbers and half the contact forms don't work, they just keep landing on a blank page with no option to input anything (for some reason the CEO's number is reasonably visible and I've used it recently).

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

So an update today!!
I am the "aussie" that Andy ( Diabolical Artificer) was referring to. His parcel that I sent took about 14 days to reach GB and be delivered. It was a LARGE box!! about 15" cube, and weighed around 3.5 kilos. Cost $85!!!! NOT cheap. Andy has posted me a couple of LP's that are very hard to source in AU. Now I think about seven weeks and nothing. Pretty sad for postage I would say!!!, and its not limited to USA/CANADA.
Just my vent for the day. Apologies all.
Joe

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I have the same experience with a part order coming from Greece, the seller is advising 6 weeks delivery due to air mail cost/availability

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

"If they really wanted customers to be able to find the contact email / telephone numbers they would be at the head of the main landing page " More or less every big company I deal with hides contact info or re-directs one first to a FAQ section, then through endless pages in a Alice in Wonderland-esque surreal nightmare.

It's a s*d when you have to google "big company contact number" in the hope someones posted it somewhere. You can understand companies wanting to cut down on trivial, easy to answer calls, like Dr's triage patients but still. I remember years ago trying to trace a lost parcel and more or less having to go undercover to find sorting office phone numbers.

Having said all that my postie is a diamond, he'll go out of way to help. I spoke to him a week or so, he said they were snowed under, lots of folk off, he was doing two rounds, so lets not forget all the sterling work our posties do.

In my particular case I was curious why a parcel from Oz to the UK took 6 weeks, whilst my parcel posted on the exact same day has disappeared; does Ozpost deal with parcels differently?

Andy

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I have had some mixed results with International post. Anything from the USA can turn up either fairly quickly (about normal) or at a snail's pace. I have a magazine subscription which seems to deliver at the normal rate, but two back-issues ordered months ago are not here yet, maybe still in the USA. Another small item is also delayed.
A book from the Channel Islands (I think) took about the expected time to arrive.
Mind you, a couple of items from China arrived surprisingly quickly.
I'm not sure what this says to us...???
Colin.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

As I understand from the I-Telex community, there are serious problems with sending items both to the USA and Australia - the current advice is that deliveries to these countries are not advised.

Certainly the service from JLC to the UK is terribly slow at the moment - but the hold up is in Germany - DHL seem to be operating at a very reduced capacity.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

Absolutely agreed! Has anyone tried using the chatbot on Hermes? My first reaction was that it is unbelievable that it could be considered fit for purpose, but then thinking about it in this context, perhaps from their perspective it is..... I had noticed parcels taking slightly longer than usual recently with them and the collection was a day late but the customer services number (once I eventually found it) was not contactable and the chatbot is a joke! Can't fault my local collection/delivery lady though.

I think this is probably about companies not being able/willing to fund large call centres and using tactics like this (my previous employer did actually have a fancy name for it) to keep whatever calls they do get to levels manageable by the reduced resources that they have actually retained on their payroll. It probably works for 90%+ of basic queries, but makes things difficult and frustrating when the company chooses not to post the relevant information and one really does need to speak to someone to resolve a problem.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I've had parcels from outside the UK arrive adorned with tape indicating that they've been opened and inspected by The UK Border Force. Whether this can happen with parcels outgoing from the UK I don't know. Perhaps in he current situation (Covid-19) stuff is being stockpiled for inspection?

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I've found things to the US are not taking more than ten days, and have had a delivery from across the pond too without issue or excessive delay.

Bizarrely, our postman is coming earlier than he used to by a number of hours. It's not first-post-over-breakfast yet, but we can dream of the Just William days!

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

I've recently received an item from the US - took about three weeks.

Had a problem a couple of years ago. The company (not the same as above) is normally very good and packages usually arrive in a few days - obviously air freight. When after waiting a couple of weeks I enquired of customer service they tracked the package as far as Customs at Stanstead. "No problem, we'll send you another one." This duly arrived in usual time. Then, about a fortnight later the original packet arrived. The item was worth about £80. I got back in touch asking what to do. "No problem - keep it or donate it on to someone who might find it useful."

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

My PCBs arrived safe & sound in New Zealand yesterday, having taken about a month.

Re: Current State of UK -> USA/Canada post?
 

There is an update from the 19th on the RM website for post to Australia, all imports are arriving through Sydney, it mentions delays related to getting items to their destinations and higher volumes of post (June 2nd).
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/...5317/related/1

David